just heard about the possibility of spending the day at Coral View Beach 'Resort' ... as long as you buy food and drinks, you are welcome to use their facilities ... so Laurie and i headed west to the end of the island, ....
there is a lagoon that you have to get across, to get to the rest of the island of Utila; and a boat that will take you across for $2.50 if you have 1-4 people ... so we said we wanted to go ... before the boat arrived, 4 taxis arrived, full of 'kids' wanting to go there as well ... so the sign says if you have more than 5 people .. you can take the boat for FREE ... that's different logic, but i'm ok with it :)
Coral View Beach Resort is about as 'resort-y' as i've seen on Utila .... Neptune is the name of the bar/restaurant on the property ... a dock, beach chairs, and fresh water to rinse the salt water off, and toilets ...what more do you need :)
Laurie and i quickly 'staked out our claim' on a couple of chairs before they were all taken ... a bunch of kids parked next to us and decided it was ok to grab a stick and start knocking coconuts from the tree ... now what gave them the idea that it was ok to help themselves to those coconuts ? ..... i watched in amazement... the staff finally came out and asked them to stop .... what is it with some people ????? ... wonder why the 'locals' don't like the 'tourists' ...
we ordered a drink and sat for awhile, then headed out to snorkel.... it's still rough water .... but we got in ...
it's always nice to see ParrotFish ... they are important for the health of the reef ... they eat the algae and 'poop' out sand for the beach ...seriously :) ...
SchoolMaster Snapper ... they are in the RED zone .... 'Avoid Eating' list here ... so it's good to see one ... alive :)
snorkeled out and about the reef, not seeing much ... headed back for shore and got next to the Dock and spotted this Flying Guarnard ... a cute face and pretty blue spots ...
i haven't seen one of these since Kathy and i went to Grand Cayman years ago ... funny story: LionFish were just becoming know as 'invasive' and there were posters about them .... i guess we really didn't take a good look at the photos. ...while we were snorkeling we saw this strange-looking fish .. with 'wings' and jumped to the conclusion that it was an Invasive LionFish and needed to be dealt with. ....we tried to get someone's attention, to come out and kill the 'Beast' ...and thankfully we were unsuccessful ... but we were all concerned and excited.... when we got back in and took a look at the photo, we realized we had not seen a LionFish ... we still laugh about our 'rooky environmental skills' :
they are really cool looking fish, and so fun to watch ... they have these 'wings' that they drag around ...
...you can see they have 'arms' with little fingers, that dig in the sand, trying to find food .... you'll see it in the video below ... he even eats something :)
... you can see the little yellow 'legs' with red stripes to move themselves along on the sand ...
they drag their 'wings' around as they move, unless they decide to open them ... then you can see the beautiful blue stripes on the ends of the fins ...
when both are fully open, it forms a complete circle, well maybe a half circle .... they are pretty awesome to watch .... i spent 20min observing, but he never fully opened up ..
i went in search of something else ...
a Spotted TrunkFish ... you all know this one by now :)
a TrumpetFish ... he looks kinda sleepy ....
and then a Peacock Flounder ... i am always amazed when i see one of these ... they are SO good at camouflage ...
Flounders begin life looking like a normal fish, with an eye on each side of it's body ... but as it matures, one eye migrates to the other side, so they have 2 eyes on one side of their body .... and kind of a grumpy face ...
....and they are very flat ... gliding ... changing color to match their surroundings ...
as they go from white sand ...
to brown coral ...he should have shook off that patch of sand on his back though ...
here is a short video of the Flying Guarnard and the Peacock Flounder ...
after snorkeling, we got something to eat, .....they have some cool 'stepping stones' here .... a good idea for the garden ...
the sun was getting low in the sky ....
and it was time to pack up and take the last boat back ... the first boat load left and we waited for the second boat .. when it arrived .. we all piled in ... 15 of us ... in a small boat ... we were riding kinda low in the water ... but we were only going through the lagoon, which should be pretty easy going .... but the winds had kicked up and there were 'waves' on the canal in the lagoon ... and we started getting splashed a little ... then a LOT, we were all drenched ... and then we noticed that our feet were in about 4" of water ... we asked for something to bail with, but this is Honduras... not that there aren't thousands of plastic containers around that could be used for bailing .. but there were none on the boat .... we all looked dubiously at each other, said a silent prayer, ....and finally made it to shore ...
ignorance is bliss ... most of us were a little nervous about our adventure ... but Laurie is a Boat Captain and she told me afterwards that she was VERY concerned about our situation; .... it could have gone very badly ...
that was a fun day ... that ended well :)
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